AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, who met Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah in New Delhi late Tuesday evening, has refused to give in to pressure to take back rebel leaders O Panneerselvam and T T V Dhinakaran into the party ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
According to multiple sources, Shah urged “unity”, arguing that the AIADMK-BJP alliance lost at least 23 seats in 2021 because Dhinakaran fought separately. However, Palaniswami or EPS held firm, suggesting that any such move would destabilise the AIADMK organisation, while telling the BJP that it would not object to the NDA including the rebels in its fold.
With the talks ending inconclusively, top sources in the AIADMK and BJP said the two parties agreed to continue their discussions after Diwali in mid-October.
The closed-door meeting revealed the central dilemma facing the BJP-AIADMK alliance: how to manage old rivals and new allies, and a leader determined not to cede ground.
EPS met Shah at the latter’s residence, along with senior AIADMK leaders such as S P Velumani, K P Munusamy, C Ve Shanmugam, and M Thambidurai. While the official reason was “a charter of demands for Tamil Nadu’s welfare”, party insiders said EPS wanted to address the pressure coming from Delhi to induct back expelled AIADMK leaders.
Top sources said that Shah argued passionately for reconciliation, saying that had Dhinakaran fought as part of the AIADMK in 2021, “the party would have crossed 100 seats”. “So this time, we should unite all,” the BJP leader said. The DMK-led alliance had won the 2021 Assembly elections, with 159 seats in the 234-member House.
After AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, EPS had gradually extended his control over the party, with the marginalised Panneerselvam or OPS – who saw himself as Jayalalithaa’s true successor – and Dhinakaran quitting eventually. The BJP was believed to have played a key role in the developments in the AIADMK at the time.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had an arrangement with both OPS and Dhinakaran, with the AIADMK contesting separately.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, EPS is said to have reminded Shah that Dhinakaran, the nephew of Jayalalithaa’s close aide V K Sasikala, had publicly declared he would never accept EPS as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate. “How can I take him in the party, when he doesn’t accept the CM candidate of the NDA?” EPS asked.
He also reportedly told Shah that Dhinakaran was neither as influential nor as popular as in the past, and added: “The NDA is free to keep TTV (Dhinakaran) in the alliance… I won’t object to their (Dhinakaran and OPS’s) presence.” EPS said the AIADMK was also ready for seat-sharing within the NDA accordingly.
Arguing for the return of OPS to the AIADMK, Shah reportedly pressed why EPS was objecting to OPS’s offer to return even as “an ordinary cadre”. The AIADMK chief said that given that OPS is a former chief minister and party coordinator, his return as a mere cadre was “unrealistic”, and would invariably lead to a power tussle.
Shah is learnt to have also advised EPS and his team to rethink their election strategy. Top BJP sources in Delhi said the Home Minister told the AIADMK leader that his ongoing statewide tour was not creating “the desired impact”.
Apart from his 15-minute meeting with the AIADMK delegation, Shah held a separate one-on-one with EPS, aided by a translator, for about 20 minutes, sources said.
AIADMK sources said that EPS briefed party cadre on his return to Chennai about his discussions with the BJP. He also addressed the issue of senior AIADMK leader K A Sengottaiyan, who had been promptly removed by EPS from all party posts soon after he talked of “unity”.
On whether Sengottaiyan may see further action, a senior leader close to EPS told The Indian Express: “There is no need for that. He has no influence. The 10-day ultimatum given by him (to include expelled leaders) has ended, and there has been no impact on the ground… He will not be removed from the party’s primary membership – he may leave if he wishes. He will not be an MLA again, but an ordinary AIADMK cadre as long as he continues.”
In a hint at the BJP, whose leadership was seen to be backing Sengottaiyan and also met him in Delhi, the AIADMK leader added: “Those who picked him to head a rebellion got it wrong.”
The AIADMK’s tough stance also flows from the fact that the BJP lacks options, with its other allies floundering – the PMK is facing a potential split and the DMDK has been sulking. Meanwhile, K Krishnaswamy of the Puthiya Tamizhagam has aligned with actor Vijay’s new party.
The BJP’s fear is that with the NDA now largely resting on its strength and that of the AIADMK, it can ill-afford to lose any numbers OPS and Dhinakaran can bring in.
A top RSS functionary from Coimbatore admitted the matter could have been handled better by the BJP. “The understanding between the BJP and AIADMK when they got back together was to respect each other… But this parallel operation involving Sengottaiyan has boomeranged. EPS is too strong inside the AIADMK.”